Communication networks typically employ network devices, such as switches, bridges and routers, that perform operations requiring knowledge of event counts (e.g., packet counts and/or packet byte counts) associated with network traffic. To reduce area and/or power consumption, some network switches use counters that store count values in a relatively inexpensive memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or static random access memory (SRAM). As the number of events to be counted in a given time interval increases, however, the counter memory update rates may be too slow to provide an exact count of the events in real time. Thus, counter memory updates can cause a bottleneck with respect to applications that require fast counting. The average rate at which the counter memory needs to be updated can be reduced using statistical estimation techniques, which may be suitable for metering or other applications that do not require exact counting, and which also generally reduce memory space/area.